Needing a bigger challenge than 15 marathons, including the Boston Marathon, Sturgis' Sara Randolph has entered a competition and is a local finalist for the Kona Ironman World Championship "Inspired" contest.

The stay-at-home mom of four became burned out.

"Feeling a little burned out from exclusively running, this winter I decided I wanted to focus more on triathlons," Randolph said. "After fulfilling a lifetime goal of mine to qualify and run the Boston Marathon, I decided to put completing an Ironman on my list of personal goals. My husband, a triathlete as well, and I decided it would be unique to compete in a Half Ironman on our 12th wedding anniversary."

She will also be competing in Ironman Louisville at the end of the summer.

Randolph said she had intentions of entering the Kona Inspired contest prior to running the Boston Marathon and even wrote down some notes for her video, but after being a part of the events that followed the Boston Marathon things completely changed for her.

"As I reflected on the day of the marathon, I realized that I had been given a second chance," Randolph said. "Making the video for the contest allowed me to express some of the thoughts and feelings that I had been holding inside of me."

So far this year Randolph has competed in three half-marathons, two short distance triathlons and one marathon (Boston).

She is scheduled to compete in one half-Ironman triathlon, one Ironman triathlon, two more short-distance triathlons and the NYC marathon.

Randolph juggles family life and training. She trains 18-to-20 hours a week.

"Typically, I swim four days a week, run three days a week and bike five days a week. Friday is my rest day, or the day that I will use to make up a workout if I missed it during the week." Randolph said. "Most days, I do either a run/swim, bike/run, or swim/bike combo. I usually do one of the workouts at 5 a.m. and the other one later in the day based on my kid's schedule. On the weekends, my training time is longer — one of my bike rides could be four hours, followed by a one hour run. The training time increases slightly each week — building up the the Ironman race."

To get a chance to competed at Kona, Randolph needs our help. People need to vote for her.

The voting period is June 29 through July 8.

People can vote once per day from a phone, iPad, laptop, or desktop. It is free to vote. The link is http://runr3.blogspot.com/ and you may share the link once.

"At Kona, I feel like I would represent the spirit of every mom. I try so hard to juggle my personal athletic goals as well as the goals for my family," Randolph said. "This often means waking up at 4:30a.m., to get in my training, hopping in the car all sweaty after a 10 mile run to pick up my daughter from preschool, volunteering in my children's classrooms in my workout gear, or 'practicing' my swim transition because I'm running late to pick someone up. It also means staying up late to finish up laundry, dishes, and preparing healthy meals for the next day."